Been looking at Wimbledon (very few places have decent rail link to Chertsey and near a tube station) but Earlsfield looks like more bang for the buck. Nice place? Areas to avoid?

I Lived on Magdelen road ,any where off there is good keep away from under the railway towards Wandsworth town ,up to the common is good gets a bit dodgy the nearer you go to Tooting ,
I had a bike nicked from the high st , but i also had 1 nicked from Piccadilly get a couple of locks and use them both ?

My GF had a flat there until we bought a place together. Decent enough area as a whole and I think Trevron has picked out the bits to avoid for you. Property is cheaper if your postcode is Tooting, even if you still feel like you’re still in Earlsfield. The area could well boom soon as the adjacent areas of Clapham and Wimbledon are so expensive.

Lived there for 5 years and Wimbledon for 3 before that. Moved a bit further out last year so that we could afford a house.

In short I loved the area. I lived in the “dodgy” Tooting Area according to Trevron73 😀 and never had any problems. It really depends what you are looking for in a place. It’s quieter than it’s neighbours (Wimbledon, Clapham and Wandsworth) but that’s what I really liked about it. 3 minutes either way on the train or a quick bus ride and you have shops, but when I wanted food or drinks it suited me down to the ground. Mels is a good cafe/bar, Nazmins does a good curry (or head down to Tooting for cheap authentic goodness) and the Korean place is good if you want something different.

As I said, I was Tooting way on the Aboyne Estate. If you don’t mind an ex local authority place the flats are a good size and despite what people think about London “estates” it was fine. We sold our two bed flat and have since been back to collect post etc and the new owners love the area as well. As stated above, you get a bit more for your money with an SW17 postcode so if you don’t mind a longer walk to the train station and being near the Hospital then areas around Rostella road are worth a look for a “cheaper” period house.

Between Earlfield and Wandsworth Common are good roads but can get busy and they provide a convenient cut through. The roads further the hill off either Magdalen Road Burntwood Lane start to get into silly money.

As you head up to Wandsworth you get a bit more ex local authority and some new builds. Don’t know much about the places up that way but when my now wife was looking she preferred the Tooting side to up there. Still, no harm in having a look.

Aboyne Estate was about 10 minutes from Earlsfield and about 15 from Tooting, however there are loads of buses that run along the main Road (garrett lane) so if you’re feeling lazy you can do the stretch pretty quickly. However, at the weekend and during the day it can get pretty congested and there are only a couple of points you can cross the train line or the river.

Sorry, bit of a rambling post. In short, I loved it and if I could afford a 3 bed place there would be living there now. Oh yeah, as with most of that part of the world it’s full of South Africans, up to you whether that’s a problem or not!

Thanks guys that’s useful info. Still need to have a look and walk round but sadly only seems to be wimbledon and earlsfield that fit our criteria for travel ti work and close ish to town. Gf works from home so somewhere nice to wander about or go to cafe would be good.

Out of interest if could choose either (say rent same in both places) where would you go and why? Ta

Personally I would choose Earlsfield. Wimbledon is only a few minutes away on the train and is walkable (or I should probably say cycle-able) if it’s a decent enough day. I just preferred that Earlsfield was a bit smaller.

However it probably depends on how old you are and what you want to do. If you want to be able to walk to a chain bar then hit up Wimdlebon, if you only occasionally want to hit some high street shops then go for Earlsfield. I found that by my mid 20s I’d grown out of living in Wimbledon but it’s nice to be able to go back there. Actually, since moving further out (Worcester Park) I probably go to Wimbledon more than I did living 3 minutes away.

Earlsifed has some nice cafes BTW. The aforementioned Mels, the Earlsfield Deli and a Nero which is my chain of choice.

Oh yeah, also a good Thai resturant

edit due to over eagerness to post

wimbledon is…..?

Earlsfield. I’m in tooting (though not for much longer) and think Wimbledon is over-rated especially after 6pm when a certain demographic take over the chain pub/restaurants and it seems to have a bad vibe about it which is at odds with the costs of living there. Earlsfield seems a bit more ‘independent’ and friendly and less of a commuter hub stop-off than Wimbledon. No idea of housing costs but if its less in Earlsfield it’s a no brainer. If you want bigger store shopping it’s just a short walk/bus/cycle to Wandsworth town and the shopping centre.

Owned a flat in Steerforth Street for 5 years until we moved WAY out. To be honest I absolutely loved earlsfield and still have friends who have stayed and bought larger houses there. In some ways I’m jealous of them as its just such an easy place to live, a few good pubs, great restaurants, couple of cafe’s (and more coming) but it still retains that smaller feel. The rail links are 2nd to none for getting in and out too. Only small issue I had when i was there was traffic. On a Sat morning driving anywhere became a bit of a nightmare.

Glad I’m not only one missing place since moving out! I echo what MrSmith and Buzzard have said

Think we’re going to focus on Earlsfield, this post was a great help cheers guys

I live in Wimbledon, rate it highly. But Earlsfield is also very nice and I wouldn’t think twice about living there.